The Trip That Lasted a Year - The first months

It's done. It's over. It's December, and my 12-year love has decided we need to go our separate ways. Shit! I knew things were rocky, and had been for a long time. But we were getting to the point where we couldn't even be friends anymore. Hell, one of us was likely to shove the other off a cliff, or if that didn't work, jump off ourselves. Life is short, people! It's corny but true, we must find out what we are here for, not spend our lives in misery. Like Tom Hanks' character in Joe Vs the Volcano, Joe says, if it's a choice between doing something you're scared of, or killin' yourself, why not be brave, and take the leap? Do the scary thing.

So we moved out of one of the most beautiful apartments we've had, and went our separate ways. Our move out date was Dec. 31st. What a way to begin a new year. I moved into a condo at work, where I was the Customer Service Director for an apartment renovation project, which worked out since I was pretty much on call 24 hours a day anyway... supposedly for a couple weeks' stay, but it ended up being three months. Was fine with me! Except for trying to hide the cats... But by the end of March, it was time to refurbish that place, and so I moved out with the horses on a ranch 45 minutes out of town. Yes, out of Scottsdale, way up north of Cave Creek, in the middle of Nowhere, AZ. I knew this the day I towed a borrowed 12-foot camping trailer onto the property, and got little to no cell service.

Well, I tell ya, that commute got awful nasty, sometimes even an hour each way - but, relief was in sight! Yes, folks, that's right, there was a light at the end of the tunnel! Too bad it was the Metallica kind. (Just a freight train comin' your way...) My employer decided to fix my problem - your job is done here! bye-bye! The project was almost over, and it was really just a matter of time, but it was sudden, and much sooner than expected. With the Walgreens a mile up the road, there was no need to drive all that way into town, when I had vast quantities of overpriced junk food almost at my door! Plus cat food, and treats for the horses... and without much cell service, and certainly no internet options, I promptly dropped out of civilization.

WAAAYYY out. In fact, all of reality seemed to be in suspension. It was at this point, in April, that I was feeling the major effects of being single, and alone, in a desolate area with little human contact. Any time I was on the phone, feeling just a little too sorry for myself, crying on the shoulder of my dad, my friends, or even just the cashier du jour at the Walgreens (wow, that order was rung up and packed in record time!) all those dropped calls and missed hugs began to wear on me in a big way. At the pinnacle of my determination to talk to someone, I think I called and re-called my ex like four or five times in a half hour, finally declaring that The Universe Is A Bitch And She Can Rot In Hell. Oh, and with many exclamation points. !!!!!!!!!!

But she soon saw to that attitude. Because it wasn't but a couple days after that, or thereabouts, that Hell Night descended upon me.

Stay tuned.